Thought Balloons – 2018
Which Way?
Yesterday I was leading our running group in warm ups. I mentioned we were going to run a certain stretch of the route at the end and that I wanted them to do a certain thing during that. One of my coaches spoke up and said, “We aren’t doing that stretch of road on the route.” I looked at her map and sure enough, not only were we not doing that part, the part close to it that we were doing was at the beginning of the run, not the end. I had read the map backwards out of habit, thinking we would run clock-wise around the neighborhood as usual instead of counter-clockwise as the map showed. So, that was figured out.
Force of Habit
We finish the warm up and off I go with my lead group. What do I do? I go the wrong way. Even though I read the map, heard the coach say we were supposed to go in a certain direction, it had all flew right out of my mind like so many balloons drifting off into the atmosphere. I just defaulted to what I was used to and went in the clock-wise direction. It was not until I was about a mile into the run that I realized it.
Poof
Of course, it really wasn’t a big deal. We were going to get to the water stop and back to the store perfectly fine. We even passed the groups that had gone the right way as we hit the water stop. But it shows how easy it is for thoughts and ideas to just disappear out of you one’s head and into the ether.
And that is why I try to make a habit of writing things down as often as I can!
Drawing and commentary © 2018 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
